huffingtonpost - 13 days ago

Jon Kay and David Lammy on BBC Breakfast.David Lammy has been reminded of the times he spoke out against scrapping jury trials – as he prepares to unveil plans to scrap jury trials in some cases.The justice secretary was shown social media posts he made criticising the previous Tory government when they considered doing it to help clear a huge backlog in the courts system.Lammy’s apparent hypocrisy was highlighted as he was grilled on BBC Breakfast by presenter John Kay.Lammy will announce on Tuesday afternoon that jury trials for less-serious cases will be scrapped to speed up the courts system.But Kay told him: “I just wonder what’s changed because we have a tweet here that you posted during the pandemic as the backlog was building up in the courts system, where you said: ‘Jury trials are a fundamental part of our democratic settlement. Criminal trials without juries are a bad idea’.“What you were suggesting then was that ‘the government need to pull their finger out and acquire empty public buildings across the country to make sure these can happen in a way that is safe’.“Why have you changed your mind so much that juries were fundamental, democratic and doing without juries was a bad idea, and now you’re saying we’ll do without them in some cases?”Lammy s tweet from 2020.But Lammy insisted he had not changed his mind, saying: “They are fundamental in our system and this afternoon I will be confirming that they remain fundamental in our system.“During the pandemic, the then justice secretary was talking about reducing the size of juries, and he too was looking at these group of cases that are triable either way and whether he should make changes.“The backlog then was standing at 42,000 cases. Today it’s almost 80,000 cases and if we do nothing it will be 100,000 cases, so the facts have changed.”But Kay then reminded Lammy of a subsequent tweet he posted on the same theme.“You said ‘you don’t fix the backlog in the courts by getting rid of juries’,” the presenter told him. “You said ‘you don’t fix the backlog with trials that are widely perceived as being unfair’.“So if it was unfair on a principle to get rid of juries five years ago, why is it not unfair now?”The justice secretary replied: “Your questions almost give the impression that we have the American system, where everybody in Britain gets a jury. That’s not the case.“In our system, if you can be sentenced to a year or more, you can get a jury. And so the question I’m looking at is, say, if you are charged with class C possession of a drug, should you be able to opt for a jury, or should that now be looked at by a magistrate or by a judge.”Related...Keir Starmer Forced To Defend David Lammy As Problems Mount For Embattled Prime Minister A Shambles Of A Government : David Lammy Under Fire After Another Prisoner Accidentally ReleasedDavid Lammy Says Reform UK MP s Racist Take On TV Ads Belong In The Dark Ages

Latest News

Hashtags:   

Presenter

 | 

Reminds

 | 

David

 | 

Lammy

 | 

Times

 | 

Opposed

 | 

Scrapping

 | 

Trials

 | 

Sources